I was being kissed.
This was my first kiss.
I’m normal.
The emotions of finally having something I had dreamed about having, that I never thought I would get, caused a tear to escape my eye and land on our closed lips. Ariyon reached up with his thumb and wiped my cheek, our bodies pressed closer together, seeking to become one. I panted as he trailed his fingers down my arms, and I could feel him smile against my mouth. Pulling back, he pecked my lips before grinning.
My heart pounded, my stomach spun, and the dizziness in my head swirled. In that moment I was sure that was the best kiss any girl could ever have, but I had nothing to compare it to.
“I love that I’m the only one who gets to do that to you,” Ariyon murmured against my ear.
I smiled against his cheek and then my body jolted as a scream ripped through the night.
‘Nightlings,’Yanric announced, flying overhead.
Another scream, and another. I peered through the open courtyard gates to see students running in terror out of the mansion where the ball was being held. Ariyon stepped away from me then, tucking me behind his back as we walked to the opening of the courtyard and he scanned the entrance of the mansion across the street, trying to figure out what was going on.
The music ground to a halt.
“Nightlings!” I told him so that he could prepare. “Do you have a sword?”
He shook his head. “And my powers only work on living beings.”
I knew then that he was speaking of the power to cause harm, like when he’d given me that headache on the first day I’d pulled a knife on him.
Even though he’d just admitted to having no power over the Nightlings or a sword, Ariyon ran out of the courtyard and to the front of the mansion without hesitation.
And I followed, hoping to help in any way I could.
‘Is Eden okay?’I asked Yanric.
Why were these bastards back? What did they want?
‘Yes, she’s fighting with Ayden and some teachers.’
Students ran out of the front doors of the mansion in terror, screaming as Ariyon and I pushed against the crowd. Someone bumped into me, and I cried out as pain shot up my back and my curse was ignited.
No.
Not right now. Not again. Too soon.Blackness danced at the edges of my vision as I struggled to remain conscious.
Without saying a word Ariyon reached for my hand, tucking me into his body to shield me from the crowd, and then his healing power poured through me, like a balm to my wound. I sighed in contentment, horrified that I had just taken days off of his life but glad I wasn’t unconscious and being trampled on the ground. I’d vowed to never take life from him again, but this was an emergency. Once inside the great foyer, we slipped out of the mass of the crowd and then into the adjacent ballroom where it seemed the action was taking place.
The ballroom was set up so beautifully, with white flowers suspended from the ceiling and hundreds of string lights. But I couldn’t enjoy the beauty as I stared at the carnage currently unfolding.
A group of over two dozen Nightlings had solidified in the room and were attacking students and teachers alike.
Yanric landed on my shoulder then and Eden rushed up to me out of nowhere, handing me an axe that looked like it had come from the wood-chopping station outside.
“All I could find.” She hefted her own smaller axe in one hand and a ball of fire in her other.
The students were running around screaming, and a teacher, Mr. Whitlock, tried to shepherd them to the back of the room where there seemed to be an emergency exit.
Ayden and Ariyon stood in front of us, as if shielding us from what we were seeing.
“Why are they back?” I asked with a shaky breath, watching the shadows swirl around the room.
But then I got my answer. One shadow solidified right before the princes, a yellow snake coiled around her arm.
